Statute of Limitations on Debt in Florida
By Robert A. Stiberman, Esq., Member of The Florida Bar since 1998, representing Florida bankruptcy clients since 2009. Last reviewed: June 2026.
In Florida, a creditor generally has five years to sue you on a debt based on a written contract and four years on an open account or oral agreement, under Fla. Stat. § 95.11. The clock usually starts on your first missed payment. Once the deadline passes, the debt is “time-barred,” meaning the creditor can no longer use the courts to force you to pay.
That deadline does not erase the debt, and it does not stop a collector from calling, but it does give you a complete legal defense if you are sued, as long as you raise it. Below is how Florida’s deadlines work, what can restart them, and what bankruptcy can do that the statute of limitations cannot.
Florida’s Debt Deadlines at a Glance
Florida sets these deadlines in Chapter 95 of the Florida Statutes. For most consumer debts the clock starts on the date of your first missed payment (the date of default).
| Type of debt | Deadline to sue | Statute | Common examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written contract | 5 years | § 95.11(2)(b) | Promissory notes, personal loans, most medical bills, auto and mortgage notes |
| Oral agreement | 4 years | § 95.11(3)(k) | Verbal loans, handshake deals |
| Open account | 4 years | § 95.11(3)(k) | Revolving store credit; credit card debt when the signed agreement can’t be produced |
| Credit card debt | 4 or 5 years | § 95.11 | Depends on whether a written cardholder agreement is provable (see below) |
| Deficiency after a residential foreclosure | 1 year | § 95.11(5)(h) | The balance left after a foreclosure or short sale |
| Domestic court judgment | 20 years | § 95.11(1) | A final judgment entered by a Florida court |
| Out-of-state judgment domesticated in Florida | 5 years | § 95.11(2)(a) | A judgment from another state enforced here |
Every account is different, and the deadline that applies turns on your specific facts. We encourage you to have an experienced attorney evaluate your situation before you act. Stiberman Law offers a free, confidential consultation, call 954-922-2283.
The Statute of Limitations on Credit Card Debt: Four Years or Five?
This is the question that decides most credit card cases, and the honest answer is “it depends.” Creditors argue a credit card account is governed by a written cardholder agreement, which would make it a written contract with a five-year deadline. To win on that theory in court, the creditor generally has to produce the actual agreement tied to your account.
That matters because debts are often sold. Third-party debt buyers purchase aged accounts as spreadsheets of data and frequently cannot produce the original signed agreement. When they can’t, the debt looks more like an open account, which carries the shorter four-year deadline. So a lawsuit filed four and a half years after default may survive if the debt is treated as a written contract but be time-barred if it’s treated as an open account. Whether the creditor can document the chain of ownership from the original bank to the company suing you is often the entire case.
Using the Statute of Limitations as a Defense
If you are sued on an old debt, the statute of limitations is one of the strongest defenses you have, but the court will not apply it for you. You have to raise it. In practice that means:
- File an Answer that lists the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense, generally within 20 days of being served (Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.140), identifying the default date and the deadline that has passed; or
- File a motion to dismiss if the complaint and its attachments show on their face that the claim is too late.
Doing nothing is the costly mistake. If you ignore the summons, the court enters a default judgment against you no matter how old the debt is, and that judgment is enforceable for 20 years (Fla. Stat. § 55.081). A creditor who sues days before the deadline can turn a nearly dead debt into a two-decade judgment simply because the person sued never responded. If you’ve been served, do not wait.
What Restarts the Clock (and How Collectors Use It)
Two things can revive even an expired Florida debt:
- A partial payment. A payment of any amount toward the debt generally resets the clock, with a new period running from the date of payment. A single small payment on a years-old balance can hand the creditor a fresh window to sue for the entire amount.
- A signed written acknowledgment. A new promise to pay, in writing and signed by you, can also revive the debt (Fla. Stat. § 95.04). An oral admission alone does not restart the clock once the period has fully run.
This is exactly how debt buyers operate. They contact you about an old account and encourage a small “good-faith” payment or a written payment plan. It feels like resolving a nuisance, but it can convert an unenforceable debt back into a lawsuit-eligible one. Before you pay or sign anything on an old account, verify the date of last activity first. (See our guide on charged-off debt and Florida’s lawsuit deadline.)
What Pauses the Clock (Tolling)
Separate from restarting, Florida pauses the clock only in narrow circumstances under § 95.051:
- The person who owes the debt is absent from Florida (moving out of state pauses the deadline rather than ending the claim).
- The person conceals themselves within Florida to avoid being served (actual hiding that prevents service, not simply being hard to reach).
- A court-declared mental incapacity of the creditor that existed before the claim arose, with an overall seven-year cap.
Note: it is concealment of the person to dodge service that tolls the clock, not “hiding assets.” Financial hardship, not knowing about the debt, or ongoing settlement talks do not extend the deadline.
A Few Wrinkles That Change the Answer
- Out-of-state accounts. If your account arose in another state, Florida’s borrowing statute (§ 95.10) can apply that state’s shorter deadline.
- Mortgages work differently. Each missed monthly payment is a separate default with its own five-year clock, so a lender can sometimes refile foreclosure based on a more recent missed payment.
- Federal debts often have no Florida deadline. Federal student loans have no statute of limitations (20 U.S.C. § 1091a); IRS tax debt runs on a separate 10-year collection period. Private student loans, by contrast, are treated as written contracts (5 years).
Time-Barred Is Not the Same as Off Your Credit Report
The lawsuit deadline and credit reporting run on separate clocks. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, most negative items stay on your report for seven years from the date of first delinquency, whether or not the statute of limitations has expired. So a debt can be too old to sue on yet still appear on your credit report, and paying or settling an old account does not erase the original delinquency from your report.
Your Rights While Collectors Are Calling
Even on a live debt, collectors have limits. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA, Fla. Stat. § 559.55 et seq.) prohibit harassment, false statements, and misrepresenting a debt’s legal status, including threatening to sue on a debt the collector knows is time-barred. You also have the right to request debt validation, ideally in writing within 30 days, and to keep a record of every contact.
What Bankruptcy Can Do That the Statute of Limitations Can’t
The statute of limitations is a shield you have to raise correctly, at the right moment, in court. Bankruptcy is a more complete and more certain solution, and it is what our firm actually does.
- The automatic stay stops the lawsuit immediately. The moment a bankruptcy case is filed, 11 U.S.C. § 362 halts most collection lawsuits, wage garnishments, and bank levies, whether or not the debt is time-barred. (See our guide to the automatic stay.) If you’ve already been sued, see how we stop wage garnishment and protect your paycheck.
- Discharge wipes qualifying debt regardless of its age. A Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 discharge eliminates personal liability for most unsecured debts, so you don’t have to win a statute-of-limitations fight account by account.
- It can address a judgment you didn’t fight in time. If a creditor already obtained a judgment because the deadline was missed, bankruptcy can still discharge the underlying debt, and in some cases a judicial lien on exempt property can be avoided under 11 U.S.C. § 522(f). (See can bankruptcy clear a judgment in Florida.)
- In a Chapter 13 case, we review every creditor’s claim, including for statute-of-limitations problems. After you file Chapter 13, each creditor that wants to be paid through your repayment plan has to file a document called a proof of claim, which is a formal statement of what it says you owe and why. Non-governmental creditors generally have 70 days from your filing date to file it (Bankruptcy Rule 3002(c); governmental units such as the IRS get 180 days). We read the claims that come in and, where a claim is time-barred, unsupported, or overstated, we can object to it so you are not repaying a debt the creditor no longer has the right to collect.
In short: the statute of limitations may help if you are sued and respond correctly; bankruptcy protects you across all of your debts at once and does not depend on a creditor’s paperwork failing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can a debt collector pursue me in Florida? For most written contracts, a creditor has five years from your first missed payment to file a lawsuit; for open accounts and oral agreements, four years. After that the debt is time-barred, but you must raise the deadline as a defense if you are sued.
Can a collector still call me after the statute of limitations runs? Yes. The deadline bars a lawsuit, not contact. But collectors may not threaten to sue on a time-barred debt or misrepresent its status under the FDCPA and FCCPA.
Does paying a little bit on an old debt help? It can hurt. A partial payment, or a signed written promise to pay, can restart the clock on an otherwise expired debt. Verify the age of the debt before paying anything.
What if I was already sued and a judgment was entered? A Florida judgment lasts 20 years, but bankruptcy can still discharge the underlying debt, and certain liens on exempt property can be avoided. Talk to an attorney before the creditor begins garnishing.
Talk to a Florida Bankruptcy Attorney
If you’ve been sued on an old debt, or you’re being pressured to “just make a small payment,” talk to us before you respond. Call 954-922-2283 or request a free, confidential consultation. Firmwide, we’ve filed more than 2,500 Florida bankruptcies since 2009.
This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines depend on the specific facts of your account; confirm yours with an attorney before acting.
